Eat, Drink, and Graduate from French Summer School: A List.
- Jul 26, 2016
- 5 min read
So, dearest friendly readers, it's over. July, my International adventure, my whirlwind summer school experience. And I'm sorry, but I'm not even going to try to be delicate about it:
HOLY CRACKERS I JUST SPENT A MONTH IN FRANCE AND IT WAS SO, RIDICULOUSLY INCREDIBLE AND I'M GOING TO BE TALKING ABOUT THIS FOR THE NEXT 6 MONTHS AND WHAT IS THIS LIFE?!!
Whew...super relieved to get that out of my system! Now, let's proceed.
This month has been a wildly eye-opening, genuinely new and inspiring experience for me - but in a MILLION more ways than I'd expected! Of course, this trip allowed me to develop educationally (duh), and I'm so excited about the new knowledge that I get to bring back to Canada and to my brand new, big-girl job, but it also gave me a chance to stretch my emotional self, expand on my sense of independence, and grow in humility, respect for others, and appreciation for the things I do not know and understand. Who would've thought - all that from a 'glamourous summer vacation'...
*disclaimer: there was VERY LITTLE glamour involved in this trip. More like never-ending blisters, dehydrations, pages and pages of study notes, and a little bit of glamour in between.
Still amazing. Still totally worth every minute...and every blister.
Anyway, due to the fact that my head is still spinning from the events of the past month, the only way that my attention-deficit/obsessive-compulsive type 'A' brain will be able to process anything is in list form. Which is convenient, because I love lists. And for those of you who cringe at the sheer organization of thoughts, well...I suggest you bow out now.
Alas, here it is: JESSICA'S TOP FIVE 'AHA's' FROM A MONTH IN FRANCE
#1. When you don't speak the national language of the area in which you are travelling, Y O U are not allowed to complain. Y O U are the one making things difficult, and Y O U are the one who needs to be patient, and apologetic, and really, REALLY grateful to anyone who even attempts to help you (even when it doesn't really end up helping at all...). Now, I'm not saying that you need to sit back while the locals are rude to you (which may or may not have happened), but realistically, if you didn't take the time to *actually* learn the native tongue, that's on you. Communication is IMMENSELY important, I learned that repeatedly over the course of this month.
#2. Traveling alone is kind of awful...but it's also kind of amazing. Anyone who knows me knows I basically hate being by myself. If I could, I'd like...live stream my day just so I could have the illusion of other people being around. However, I think one of the biggest questions I've been asking this year is, 'Who am I as a whole, single, grown up, lone person? Who am I as an individual person who can live alone, and go to the grocery store alone, and maybe even grab a Starbucks latte without a coffee date?" I've mostly just gotten nowhere in that investigation, though, until now. Because when you're in a new country and you don't speak the language and you have zero food in your little rental space...you go to the grocery store alone, or you starve. And likely, once you do that, you'll start to get a little more brave and you'll stop at a sandwich shop for lunch alone, and maybe you'll go shopping, and then to the big garden to read, and who knows what else! This month has given me a sense of...permission, I think? Permission to take risks, and believe in my abilities, and permission to be a person independent of anyone or anything else that I would normally hide behind back home. And it's been great. And I never would've been pushed into that had it not been for this excursion.
#3. Our problems are their problems, too (and vice versa). Homelessness, poverty, violence and abuse...no matter where you are in the world, people are very hurt, people are living in very desperate situations, and people, for the most part, are very familiar with the human condition. I've learned this month that, no matter how fabulous your destination may seem, there's going to be brokenness on the streets they don't show in the travel guides. I'll be keeping that in mind the next time I want to leave my home to try and "get away" from the issues in my own backyard.
#4. Paris, in particular, is a very "touchy" city. Like, on our first day of school, our group went for lunch together and as we walked down the crowded sidewalk, a couple directly in front of me STOPPED DEAD in their tracks, turned to each other, and proceeded to enthusiastically suck face...while immediately prompting a human-traffic-jam (in which I slammed right into 3 other people who also fell victim to the lovebirds' poorly timed show of affection). The point of me telling you this, though, other than to share the absurdity of it for you to enjoy, is to remind you that there is still love in this world. Even in Paris, where attack after attack has taken place, people still hold each others' hand, they still hug their children, they kiss their friends goodbye, and it's a wonderful thing. This month, I've been constantly reminded of how many people I have in my life that I just want to SQUEEZE! at any given moment - because I haven't had any of them close enough to do so, and I'm determined not to take that conclusion for granted ever again.
And finally,
#5. Despite what I've spent a solid 10 years trying to convince my mother; chocolate for breakfast
e v e r y s i n g l e d a y for a month gets real old, real fast. Do you know how much I would've paid for scrambled eggs, or toast, or LITERALLY ANYTHING SAVOURY AT ALL!!? Seriously France, I get it, pastries are your thing...but this Canadian girl would've legitimately sold a kidney for bacon and sausages and really anything other than flan. Which brings me back to my earlier note on appreciation - now that I'm 17 pounds heavier and likely diabetic, I'm deeply appreciative of all the hearty, non-sweet breakfast options awaiting me back home.
So there you have it: 4 weeks in France, 5 earth-shattering discoveries, and now 17 hours 'in-transit' to get back onto home turf. It's been one absolutely, positively, gloriously buttery-croissant filled adventure of a lifetime, and I'm looking forward to remembering and reminiscing on the relationships, the information, and the experiences for a long time to come.
Jessica*.
Comments